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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1355.PDF
459FLIGHT, 14 September 1961 Fig 3. Distribution of BEA machinery traffic (April 1959) (/) Miscellaneous metal pro- ducts; (2) bus/ness and office machinery; (3) vehicles and spares; (4) aircraft and spares; (5) electrical machin- ery (radio, etc); (6) engines and turbines; (7) electrical machinery (motors, welders, etc); (8) electrical machin- ery (domestic); (9) other machinery o POLAND WGERMANY '•'OCIECHOSLOVAKIA be summarized as follows: (a) relationship between air and surfacerates; (b) quality of service—speed, handling, etc; (c) acceptance of air freight as a normal means of transport. All of these are in fact part of one process—the distribution ofgoods from the factory or warehouse to the customer. Discussions that involve only transport costs ignore other cost items—e.g..packing—as well as such elements as the total time involved in the process. Up to the present air freight has largely resulted fromemergency shipments, from shipments where speed would extend the market, or from cases in which transport costs were lower byair. Just how far goods are shipped by air because total distribution costs are lower is practically unknown,2 yet it is potentially the mostviable of all reasons. It was in order to throw some light on total distribution costs and the air freight market that we undertookour original survey. Such an undertaking is only possible in a limited time by restrictingthe field covered. In order to do this an overall study of UK air freight was made to provide a basis upon which more specializedwork could proceed. UK Airborne Trade Fig 1 summarizes the position, demonstra-ting in the upper graph not only how restricted air freight is in volume, but also in area. The USA alone accounts for 49.5 percent of total world air freight, the next ten countries account for 38 per cent, while the remaining 12.5 per cent is shared amongst therest of the world. The UK is responsible for 6 per cent of the total. The remaining graphs in Fig 1, breaking down UK airborne tradeby value, reveal the overwhelming dominance of manufactured goods in total trade. Characteristic of the air market is the similarityin flow for both imports and exports, for air freight does not embrace the weighty movement of basic materials into the country. Takingthe most important commodity groups, we get the results given in Table 1. The final pair of graphs in Fig 1 break down the machinerycategory, which, if vehicles and instruments are included, is by far the most important commodity group. The trade in preciousmetals, bullion and jewellery consists to a large extent in move- ments of platinum. Jewellery accounts for £lm of the importsand £0-4m of the exports. If adjustments are made to consolidate the machinery category to include vehicles and instruments, andprecious metals are omitted, the three major categories for both imports and exports become (a) machinery, (b) textiles and clothing,(c) chemicals and drugs. The graphs in Fig 1 deal with total airborne trade, a field far toolarge for detailed study, and subsequent effort was directed towards Europe only, and particularly to the export trade in machinery. Anglo-European Air Freight UK trade with Europe ranks secondto the Sterling Area in importance, and is primarily directed to the countries of western Europe (see Table 2). Of this trade, a higherpercentage is between the UK and the countries of the Common Market than with those of the Free Trade Community, i.e., 10 percent more in imports and 14 per cent in exports. Detailed tables of Anglo-European air freight are tedious toplough through, and our results are presented here mainly in the form of maps and diagrams. Figs 2 and 3 show the distribution ofBEA's freight traffic, both for total exports and for machinery alone. Unlike the trade figures already given, these are based onweight and not on value. The bulk of the traffic occurs between the UK and the adjacentcountries of the Continent, with Sweden and Italy outlying the ring. Stage-lengths on most routes are below 500 miles, Sweden and TABLE I: UK AIRBORNE TRADE, Imports (£m) Machinery: mechanical 12.9 \ 10 Q electrical 6.9/ Textiles and clothing: textiles clothing ,,,, Vehicles 10.2 Precious metals, bullion, jewellery 8.4 Instruments 7.3 Chemicals and drugs 4.4 Metal manufactures, less machin- ery and non-ferrous metals ... 1.3 Total, all manufactured goods ... 74.2 Grand total, all imports 94.7 « .3.4£! MANUFACTURED GOODS, 1957 Exports (£m) Vehicles Machinery: mechanical 22.5 electrical 10.2 Precious metals, bullion, jewellery Textiles and clothing; textiles 5.4' clothing 7.2 Instruments Chemicals and drugs Leathers and furs Total, all manufactured goods ... Grand total, all exports (UK produce) 58.3 3,7 16.6 ^ 12.6 8.0 6.5 3.4 147.9 158.3 TABLE 2: RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF EUROPEAN COUNTRIES IN UK TRADE, 1957 Rank 1 1 3 4 5 6 Total Total | Sw N D Q N Sw F F D Fd • B Trade Mfd G F 1 Sz N B (ids. N r.F Sw B 1 BEA 1 F N r,1 B Sz E F 1 G R N Sz BEA and national , N F S7 B Sw G E F N B 1 G Sz Train ferry E p B G Si 1 N Machinery Tot. E F N B Sw 1 G BEA! E 1 F G B 1 N Sw TF E F G Sz B 1 N Notes: BEA and national: BEA traffic together with that of the other major operator to country concerned. Machinery: total BEA and train ferry traffic in machinery. Abbreviation : I, imports; E, exports. (Countries) G, W. Germany; N, Netherlands; F, France; B, Belgium; I, Italy; Sw, Sweden, D, Denmark; Sz. Switzerland; Fd, Finland.
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